The Monaco Grand Prix is the race that every driver wants to win. Today, a new driver joined the illustrious list of winners at the principality that boasts such greats as Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and six-time victor Ayrton Senna. The driver in question – a certain Mr. Webber. Off the back of a dominant Spanish win, the pressure was on the amicable Aussie as to whether or not he could maintain such blistering form: the answer he provided was very much in the affirmative.
Webber was able to lay the foundations for his convincing win with an equally convincing pole position. Unlike last time out though, Vettel could only manage third, with an incredible performance from Renault’s Robert Kubica splitting the navy-blue cars. Massa did well to join the German on row 2, but his teammate Alonso was less fortunate. The double Monaco winner binned it at Massenet corner in Saturday practice, causing damage impossible to repair in time for Q1. Thus, he was demoted right to the back of the grid, forced to start the race from the pitlane.
As the pack got away, both Red Bull cars made fine getaways, with Webber leading as expected and Vettel getting the better of the slower-starting Kubica for 2nd. Hamilton had a look up the inside of the Pole after a quick start, but thought better of it, remaining in 5th place behind Massa’s Ferrari. A lap later, the first of a grand total of 4 safety cars made its first appearance, as a result of a tangle with the wall in the tunnel for Nico Hulkenberg on lap 1. The Mercedes SLS led the pack as the cars began lap 2, with the order being Webber, Vettel, Kubica, Massa, Hamilton, a creditworthy 6th for Barrichello, ahead of the 2 Mercedes cars of Schumacher and Rosberg. Jenson Button had made a rotten start to find himself 11th come the end of the first lap, but that mattered little as he retired soon after anyway. An almighty gaffe by his team meant his side-pod protector wasn’t removed before the start of the installation lap, causing lasting damage to the engine that meant it gave up the ghost behind the safety car.
Alonso, still right near the back of the pack at this point, took the opportunity to pit, getting the obligatory but less durable super-soft compound tyres out of the way. He then proceeded to carve his way back through the pack, making short work of Chandhok’s Hispania to begin with. However, Lucas di Grassi proved somewhat less compliant. Alonso spent 4 frustrated laps behind the rookie before sending one up the inside at the Nouvelle Chicane, gifted an opportunity thanks to the Virgin driver getting a poor exit out of the tunnel. With the Brazilian disposed of, Alonso repeated the precise same move on the other new-car drivers of Trulli, Glock and Kovalainen.
Back to the pointy end of the field, the positions remained unchanged as Hamilton became the first of the leading group to change his tyres, resuming just ahead of Alonso. Massa followed suit 2 laps later, rejoining the track just ahead of the Brit. Despite having a clear track for a while, Rosberg too continued after his stop in the same position, albeit now behind Alonso, who having pitted early had leapt ahead of a copious volume of cars to reach 6th. The leading trio then pitted a few laps later, their positions remaining unchanged.
With Webber still firmly in charge, the safety car made its second visit, this time courtesy of the other Williams of Barrichello, who had fallen to 11th at the stops. The veteran suffered suspension failure that pitched him firmly into the crash barriers at Massenet. At the restart, the order remained Webber from Vettel, Kubica, Massa, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher and Rosberg, with both Force India cars of Sutil and Liuzzi running inside the top 10 as well. A suspected loose drain cover was the cause for safety car no.3, whilst a hair-raising collision between the Lotus of former Monaco winner Trulli and Monaco debutant Chandhok at the Rascasse caused the fourth and final one, with no real action to speak of during the 30 laps between the two.
With just 3 laps to go, and a lot of debris to clear, we all thought the positions were set. How wrong we were. The safety car pulled in to the pits at the end of the final lap, and with this year’s new rules stipulating that overtaking is permitted after the safety car line (just after the exit of the Rascasse and before the final corner of Anthony Nogues), there was scope for overtaking yet. One man seized that opportunity: Michael Schumacher. Alonso, who he was running just behind, got an arm full of oversteer as he left the Rascasse, leaving the door wide open for the 7-time champion to cheekily, but legally, pinch 6th place at the very last minute.
Those technicalities however did nothing to detract from another stellar performance from Webber. With a second commanding win in as many times of asking, he rockets to the top of the championship standings, joined by teammate Vettel on an identical amount of points, but ahead on virtue of 2 wins to the German’s 1. If you’d had told Alonso at the start of the race he would have been just 5 points adrift of the championship lead by the end of it, he’d have bitten your arm off. Yet that’s precisely what happened, and Jenson Button can’t have been disappointed at remaining only 8 off the lead after a disastrous race.
As with most Monaco Grand Prix, this one won’t be remembered for sheer action. But like Spain, it will go down as another utterly flawless performance from Mark Webber – The opposition, not least of all Vettel, must be beginning to feel rather nervous for their own chances if he is able to maintain that kind of form.
Edit: Michael Schumacher's move on Alonso for 6th was deemed illegal by the stewards, and thus earned him a 20-second timed penalty which dropped him to 12th place. Buemi moves up to claim the final point for 10th. This decision is subject to appeal by Mercedes GP.
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